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Growing up I played baseball and that was it. I dabbled in basketball but honestly I hated the sport and to this day really don’t care for it. My parents insisted I play it though since my older brother was a CYO all star and they hoped some of it rubbed off on me to relive the glory. I asked to give hockey a shot but since no one else in my family knew anything about the sport it was shot down quick (ironically I played in college). I wanted to play football and try wrestling but mom was worried I would get hurt which is something she still worries about when I leave the house to this day.

So far we haven’t said no to any sport that Teaspoon has wanted to try. We’ve done basketball, soccer (I even coached that) and now we have the 1-2 punch of dekhockey and t-ball. Not just two sports but two in the same day! When we signed up we thought that t-ball would be during the week but things change and now he’s a two sport athlete in the same day. He does have a 3-4 hour window in between but it’s still exhausting. Not for him, FOR ME!

Yesterday kicked off opening day of t-ball with a parade through our borough, a memory I cherished as a kid. While most kids were running around like typical 5yr old knuckleheads, there was my boy marching at the front of the pack. He was taking it very serious which made me smile and I know my dad was also from above.

An important thing every parent needs to discuss is how and what their child(ren) will be involved in. I’m all for letting my boys try anything they want because I don’t want them to miss out on a chance to try something they may end up loving. I am realistic though and won’t push any sport on them if they’re not interested but if you start a season though, you finish it. I also realize that sports schedules can be insane and once my youngest starts playing that my weekends will be filled with running all over SWPA with an occasional wave to my wife as we pass each other on the road.

We’re not limiting this to sports either. If they want to try an instrument (daddy was a drummer) or an art I’m all for it. It comes down to time management which is something I can thank several of my previous employers helping me master. I used to manage multiple high profile corporate web, social and IT projects at once with great success. Now it’s the kids school, sports and social schedules along with drinks, meals and potty breaks.

I’ll be busy the next 3 days in social media geek out mode covering the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh. While some still think you can say “oh just go do something social” is an acceptable way to handle major events, I’ve been secretly planning my coverage for awhile in the darkness of my basement office.

Social media deserves respect from the old school marketing folks and should be accepted as a critical part to any campaign. It’s much more than snapping a couple photos and blasting out a few sales pitches. This is about creating an experience for the customers and this is what I enjoy most.

Like my joy of brewing beer, I love creating for people. Feedback is critical for me to make a better product and experience not just for myself but everyone else. Since I was a kid I’ve always wanted to make whatever I do an enjoyable experience for others and with social media I have the ultimate chance to do so.

I’ve gone over my headaches of trying to go mobile when covering events as the social media guy for an organization so this morning I’m trying to make my backpack load as light as possible. The current work area on my coffee table is a mess of 2 laptops, multiple cameras/videocameras, ipad, adapters, battery chargers and scattered papers with events notes. This is where the IT guy in me has no problem with it because I have tech surrounding me and while it may be a mess, it’s an organized one.

The fun part of this will be making content live as fast as possible. I’ve been fine tuning the workflow so that before the end of any event we will have content already posted, titled and tagged. Overkill? Some may say so and you need to pick & choose when you do it so you don’t burn out a limited staff, but you would be amazed at how fast people are already looking for content. I saw this with the RMU vs UK upset and that’s when I finally had my business case to move forward with my vision.

The next 3 days will be interesting as I’m honestly at the mercy of finding wifi that won’t die when I batch upload hi-res photos and some HD video but that’s part of the fun when working with technology and limited budget. I have a vision for the ideal digital communications plan (team members/process/and more) which I think businesses should implement into their workflow.

Want to know what it is? Let’s meet up for a craft beer and i’ll tell ya

One thing that I’m bad at is remembering the year. I kept thinking it was 2010 for some reason and have no idea why 2012 doesn’t seem far fetched. Maybe I have a thing against years with odd numbers? This past year was eventful personally but when it came to blogging it was kinda meh. Either way here’s a quick recap so my kids don’t have to sift through archives.

June 2011
After many years of hard work I graduated cum laude from college. It was incredibly stressful when I threw work and the family into the mix but the support was fantastic! I’ll probably have my student loan bills paid off when Teaspoon is starting school.